THE SOCIAL STRATIFICATION OF INFORMAL CAREGIVING ARRANGEMENTS IN EUROPE

Abstract In ageing societies, the increasing quota of older and frail individuals creates unprecedented needs for care. As care is often costly and not adequately covered by the welfare state, care responsibilities for older individuals fall on the shoulders of family members. The study of informal care provision is acquiring centrality both in the social sciences and policy discourse, since the care load can bear negative consequences on a range of outcomes, from health (e.g., the “caregiver burden”) to employment. It is important to gain a better understanding of which individuals are the most likely to provide informal caregiving and face its consequences. In the present study, we explore the educational and income differences in the probability of providing informal caregiving to individuals living outside the household in Europe, using the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, 2004-2020). As a contribution to the field, we aim at uncovering the mechanisms behind the socio-economic gradient in caregiving, such as differences in health and longevity and time constraints (due to employment and other care responsibilities) that are unequally distributed across social layers. Results show that individuals with tertiary education, and at the top of the income distribution, are more likely to provide care, net of several other factors. The study concludes with attempted explanations of the results, related to the fact that lower educated, and lower income individuals, can more often rely on publicly provided services and means-tested benefits.

and women who identified as socially marginalized (Mage = 66.5) participated in semi-structured interviews Analyses revealed that older adults draw on purpose to guide health by maintaining personally meaningful, health-related (e.g., health education, caregiving) vocations into late life and by modeling positive health behaviors for others .Further, the role of purpose in health navigation changed across their adulthoods: participants described shifts from adversitydriven purpose to wellness-focused purpose, translating early adversity into current health motivation, and finding space for their authentic purpose when health was considered to stabilize.Findings demonstrate that, for marginalize older adults, their relationship with their own health may improve across the lifespan as they overcome adversity and health becomes enmeshed in purpose.Findings support refining health interventions to account for the role of purpose for older adults who have faced undue social hardship.This study aims to examine the differences in the social relationship of the old adults between the use of assistive appliances.For the analysis, the data were obtained from "2020 National Data on the Elderly" published by the Ministry of Health and Welfare and the Korea Institute for Health and Social Affair.Data was a survey of people aged 65 and older conducted between June and August 2020, which included data from 10,097 people.The variables used for the use of assistive appliances were vision aids, hearing aids, chewing aids.The variables used to measure older adults' social relationship resource are the frequency of visits and contact with non-resident children, grandchildren and children with whom they have the most contact, and the frequency of visits and contact with relatives, friends, neighbors, and acquaintances.The analysis used multiple regression analysis and t-test for comparison of means between groups, and the main findings were as follows.First, there is no statistical correlation between assistive appliances use and older adults' social relationships.Second, there is no significant difference in the mean of the social relationships of older adults with and without assistive appliances use.In this paper, we overlooked the ease with which the elderly can use assistive appliances with support if they have functional difficulties.These findings confirm that there is no direct relationship between the use of assistive appliances and the social relationships of older adults, and suggest the need for further research on the social relationships of older adults.

THE SOCIAL STRATIFICATION OF INFORMAL CAREGIVING ARRANGEMENTS IN EUROPE
Marco Albertini, Francesca Zanasi, and Giorgio Piccitto, Alma Mater Studiorum -Università di Bologna, Bologna, Emilia-Romagna, Italy In ageing societies, the increasing quota of older and frail individuals creates unprecedented needs for care.As care is often costly and not adequately covered by the welfare state, care responsibilities for older individuals fall on the shoulders of family members.The study of informal care provision is acquiring centrality both in the social sciences and policy discourse, since the care load can bear negative consequences on a range of outcomes, from health (e.g., the "caregiver burden") to employment.It is important to gain a better understanding of which individuals are the most likely to provide informal caregiving and face its consequences.In the present study, we explore the educational and income differences in the probability of providing informal caregiving to individuals living outside the household in Europe, using the Survey of Health, Aging and Retirement in Europe (SHARE, 2004(SHARE, -2020)).As a contribution to the field, we aim at uncovering the mechanisms behind the socio-economic gradient in caregiving, such as differences in health and longevity and time constraints (due to employment and other care responsibilities) that are unequally distributed across social layers.Results show that individuals with tertiary education, and at the top of the income distribution, are more likely to provide care, net of several other factors.The study concludes with attempted explanations of the results, related to the fact that lower educated, and lower income individuals, can more often rely on publicly provided services and means-tested benefits.

THE SOUTHEAST FLORIDA VETERANS' COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES ON THE MEANING OF WELL-BEING: A PHENOMENOLOGICAL INQUIRY Cheryl Birmingham, Florida Atlantic University, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
The Veterans are a unique community shaped by past military experiences that may have positive and negative effects on their well-being as soldiers.With nearly half of the 18.4 million Veterans in the United States living beyond 61 years the physical and mental health conditions may desolate the Veterans' well-being.Promoting Veteran well-being has been studied extensively but scant on how they define it.It is critical to understand how Veterans define well-being to inform future program development addressing mental health needs.The purpose of this study is to discover the meaning and the live experience of well-being among Veterans.A qualitative hermeneutic interpretative phenomenological approach was used to understand the meaning of Veterans' well-being.It allowed the phenomena to surface while exposing the essence of and the experience.Purposive sampling was used to recruit participants, with semi-structured interviews via ZOOM and observations at Veteran Service Organizations (VSOs).Fourteen Veterans participated in this study, 8 males and 6 females with majority greater than 61 years.64% were White, 21% Hispanic and 15% African American.With the use of Max van Manen's analysis strategy, 3 major themes emerged: (1) A Connection to a Military Sisterhood/ Brotherhood; (2) The Lingering Effects of Military Service and (3) Healthy Companionship/Relationships advocating for Veterans' well-being.The lingering effects persisted and challenged the Veterans' emotional well-being; however, they were able express their military camaraderie continued in Veteran life.Programs based on social relationships that allow connections with Veterans and/or their significant others need to be established.

THE UNIQUE CHARACTERISTICS OF "FAMILIES OF CHOICE" AND BIOLOGICAL FAMILIES OF LGBT ADULTS
Ella Cohn-Schwartz 1 , Sigal Gooldin 2 , and Yaacov Bachner 3 , 1. Ben Gurion University, Haifa, HaZafon, Israel, 2. The Association for LGBTQ Equality,Tel Aviv,Tel Aviv,Israel,HaDarom,Israel This study joins a growing body of research on the unique families of aging individuals in sexual minorities.We explore the "families of choice" (who are close enough to be considered as family) and biological families of LGBT adults and their associations with mental health.Data for this study was collected via an online survey with self-identified lesbian, gay, bi-sexual and transgender (LGBT) adults aged 50+ in Israel (n=483).The participants were asked about characteristics of the relationship with their families of choice and biological families and about experiencing depressive symptoms.Descriptive results indicated that most participants had a family of choice, numbering five people on average.These families of choice were mostly composed of partners and friends, but also of the family members of one's partner, and of ex-partners and colleagues.They reported having about four close biological family members, mostly children, parents, siblings, and nieces.Several differences emerged when comparing the two types of families: The relationships with biological families were more stable and their biological family members were contacted more often.On the other hand, families of choice were more likely to accept their sexual orientation and the relationship with them had fewer negative aspects.Regression analyses showed that individuals had more depressive symptoms if the relationship with their families of choice was less stable and if there were more negative relationships with both types of families.These findings shed light on the unique sources of support among LGBT adults and their associations with mental health.

THE USABILITY AND ACCEPTABILITY OF THE AUGMENTED REALITY HOME ASSESSMENT TOOL (ARHAT)
Beth Fields, Zachary Skrove, Ross Tredinnick, Bryce Sprecher, Jenny Lee, Rachael Shields, Kevin Ponto, and Jung-hye Shin, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, United States Gaining access to reliable home assessments for aging in place can be challenging and expensive for urban residents and particularly those living in rural areas.Evidence has shown that there is a substantial increase in the number of older adults nationally and globally, making the availability of home assessments scarce.As individuals continue to age and become more susceptible to disabilities it is important that they have a home that allows them to age in place and is compliant with housing standards.Technology has the potential to make home assessments more accessible to older adults who want to age in place.The aim of this study was to determine the usability and acceptability of a mobile-based app, the Augmented Reality Home Assessment Tool (ARHAT), across different groups interested in home assessment (occupational therapists (OTs), older adults/

THE SOCIAL RELATIONSHIP OF OLD ADULTS ACCORDING TO THE USE OF ASSISTIVE APPLIANCES IN SOUTH KOREA.
Yeojin Yoon, Chung-Ang University, Seoul, Republic of Korea